Chinese cities

A museum boom

But they are not going up as fast as history is being knocked down

CITIES and towns across China are rushing to build museums. These are not the dour edifices of the Mao era that until recent years were the dreary repositories of the nation's historical treasures. Governments, and even some individuals, are lavishing huge sums on vast and exotic new buildings. Sadly, this does not imply a new-found respect for history.

In 1977, a year after Chairman Mao's death, there were only 300-odd museums. Most of them were little more than displays of Communist Party propaganda. Within a decade, say official press reports, the number had grown to nearly 830. By the turn of the century there were more than 2,000 of them. By 2015, officials estimate, there will be around 3,000.

Beijing alone now has at least 131 museums, up from 96 a decade ago. In January the Stalinist-looking National Museum overlooking Tiananmen Square was closed down for a three-year makeover costing $330m. Last year saw the formal opening of the city's new Capital Museum, which cost more than $160m. Shanghai is fast catching up. It plans to have 150 museums by 2010, up from 106.

Local governments, caught up in what the Chinese press calls a “museum fever”, are vying to outdo one other with architectural wonders. Most are paid for out of government budgets. But near the city of Chengdu, in south-western China, a local businessman, Fan Jianchuan, opened a 33-hectare (82-acre) museum complex two years ago. Its exhibits are boldly revisionist, highlighting the contributions made by the Kuomintang, the party's enemy, in the anti-Japanese war of the 1930s and 40s.

Officials worry that the museum boom is getting out of control. The country has a dearth of people qualified to run them. Local governments are often unwilling to subsidise running costs, forcing museums to rely on ticket sales. Prices are often too high for many ordinary townspeople.

The museum fad is a refreshing contrast to the culture-destroying ethos of Mao's rule. But the penchant for vandalism still lurks. This week Qiu Baixing, a deputy minister of construction, said historical architecture and cultural sites were being “devastated” by rapid urban construction. He even compared this to the destruction wrought by Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. The museums may look splendid, but, around them, history is being pulverised.